March madness has finally come to an end a jam packed month full of some great design tutorial worth downloading. This is great wrap up if you enjoy you more than welcome to share your thoughts in a comment below.

Synths, guitars, answering machines and Kinect. This week we meet the Audiotuts+ team. This post is taken from the Audiotuts+ Team page on the site.

Sometimes, it’s easy to forget that actual human beings create the content here on Audiotuts+. We are in fact real people, and not just music-loving robots. In addition to numerous part-time contributors, we have a team of talented and passionate musos and producers creating all kinds of tutorials and content teaching all things audio from composing to mastering.

Audiotuts+ is Envato’s tutorial site about music production—in fact, all things audio.

Audiotuts+ is a blog for musicians, producers and audio junkies! We feature tutorials on the tools and techniques to record, produce, mix and master tracks. We also feature weekly articles for the music obsessive. Our commisisoned tutorials are written by industry experts and professionals, but anyone with an awesome skill to showcase can contribute a post and we’ll pay $150 if we publish it. You can learn about the submission process on our Write a Tutorial page.

Do the marketplace managers eat their own dog food? Do they use the marketplaces themselves? Do they stand behind their work? Do they put their money where their mouth—ah, keyboard—is? The answer is a very clear “Yes!”

Each member of the team has been a marketplace member for at least three years, and are successful authors you can learn a lot from. Here is a selection from their favorite and best-selling items. Take note of their titles, artwork and descriptions, and learn from them.

As a freelancer, you’re left to do just about everything yourself. Your invoicing. Your marketing. Your web design. And making the coffee. You’re not alone if you are searching for resources to make the job easier. In fact, it seems freelancers everywhere are writing about the subject!

So here is a roundup of ten lists of resources for freelancers. I admit that for a “Freebie Friday” I’m cheating—some of the lists contain options that cost real money. In a way that is helpful. It allows you to weigh up whether using a freebie is actually the smart way to go.
I hope you find the roundup helpful. Please let us know in the comments if you find some real treasure.

Thursday Theory: 6 Ways to Make Your Work More Original

Originality is something to be cherished when it comes to graphic design, and truly original work can really stand out in the industry. Far too many designers are following trends rather than setting them. I’ve touched on the merits of originality in previous Thursday Theory posts, but today I’ll be discussing some practical ways to make your own work more original.

1: Take Your Own Photography (Or Use Premium Stock Images)

Within the Photoshop community I see a lot of the same stock images being used over and over, and there’s nothing that can turn off your audience quicker than thinking ‘I’ve seen that photo before!’. If you’re trying to set yourself apart and impress your viewers then it isn’t a great idea to base your work on a really overused photograph.

One great solution is to take your own photos and integrate them into your work. This has several benefits:

Thursday Theory: 6 Ways to Make Your Work More Original

Originality is something to be cherished when it comes to graphic design, and truly original work can really stand out in the industry. Far too many designers are following trends rather than setting them. I’ve touched on the merits of originality in previous Thursday Theory posts, but today I’ll be discussing some practical ways to make your own work more original.

1: Take Your Own Photography (Or Use Premium Stock Images)

Within the Photoshop community I see a lot of the same stock images being used over and over, and there’s nothing that can turn off your audience quicker than thinking ‘I’ve seen that photo before!’. If you’re trying to set yourself apart and impress your viewers then it isn’t a great idea to base your work on a really overused photograph.

One great solution is to take your own photos and integrate them into your work. This has several benefits:

Enhance Your Learning With a FanExtra Membership!

At PSD.FanExtra we’ve been striving to improve our content, including our vast array of content available through our FanExtra Network. Our network is the perfect solution if you’re looking to enhance your learning and gain access to some really affordable design resources!

We’ve built up nearly 150 tutorial source files to accompany our huge archive of PSD.FanExtra tutorials. However, we’ve also been working hard to build up the members-only content that our network members are enjoying. We’ve laid out some great examples of this content below:

48 In Depth Website Design Photoshop Tutorials

There are a lot of website layout design Photoshop tutorials out there, but very few of these are actually in depth. Today we’ve compiled 48 hugely in depth website design tutorials that walk you through every single step to create a professional website layout in Photoshop.

Each one of these tutorials documents every stage, including blending options, font settings etc… so you can clearly follow the entire work process. Better still, the resulting layouts are truly stunning, and are sure to add a professional touch to your website!

Vectortuts+ is a blog of tutorials, articles, freebies and more on all things vector! We publish tutorials on techniques and effects to make awesome vector graphics in programs like Adobe Illustrator and Inkscape. Our authors and writers work all over the industry. Most of the content is free, but you can also grab a premium Vector Plus membership and get access to special extras as well as source files for the tutorials. And if you’re interested in writing a tutorial, then you can submit your ideas and we’ll pay $150 for any published tutorials!

I have been using Blogger which is also called Blogspot to run my computer and electronics blog at pctutorial.info . It has been great. I have been very happy with how simple, reliable, affordable, and customizable Blogspot is for the … Continue reading →

43 electronic style drums samples. This great free pack covers a large panel of percussion sounds: toms, closed hi hat, claps, snares, cowbells, kicks, noises, percs, sfxs, sub and woods. You will definitely use some of them in your tunes.

To follow from a freebie which i released last week which was starburst brush and vector set. This week i will be showing you an illustrator quick tip on how to create your very own star burst vector. A very useful quick tip with the end result taking less than a few minuets to achieve.

Tutorial Details

How to Create an Effective Coming Soon Page

Coming soon pages are generally very simply when compared to regular websites. However, they’re notoriously difficult to get right. The simplicity of the concept can actually overwhelm many designers, as they end up with a boring, lackluster design.

Today, we’ll look at how to design a simple, but effective coming soon page, and some of the theories to bear in mind.

This tutorial is actually inspired by one of our readers, who dropped me an email a couple of days ago:

“Hi I just signed up to get updated on the new site you guys have coming soon http://www.blogs.fanextra.com/ and I really liked the design you guys made for the page right now with the wavy lines and and gradient. Do you guys have a tutorial where you show this technique?”

Cameras, lenses, theology, travel and humidity. This week we meet the Phototuts+ team. This post is taken from the Phototuts+ Team page on the site.

Sometimes, it’s easy to forget that actual human beings create the content here on Phototuts+. We are in fact real people, and not just photography loving robots. In addition to numerous part time contributors, we have a team of talented and passionate artists creating all kinds of tutorials and content teaching all things photography from lighting to post processing.

If you’re not already a member of the Envato Marketplace forums, I invite you to join us today. If you’re already a member, what were some of you’re favorite threads from February? Was there anything that you really enjoyed on the forums? Let’s take a closer look at what was hawt recently on the forums!

This is a great freebie which is a Photoshop star brush and also in the set a scalable vector set of each star burst brush. Stay tuned to Creative Nerds next week we will be showing you how to create the star burst set in a video tutorial.

License Details

These icons can be used in commercial and non commercial design projects. You may NOT modify and redistribute or sell this icon set.

There was a time, not so long ago, when business was good for designers. Jobs were plentiful, and being a “good” designer was good enough. Then the economy tanked, and the world was thrown into a nasty recession. Many businesses stopped hiring, many designers were laid-off, and competition for all jobs became fierce. In short, being a “good” designer was no longer good enough.

Twitter is the social network with the highest rate of growth. This definitely is a very important aspect which can’t be neglected. It impresses with its economic potential yet the essence of Twitter was very well described in a tweet of my friend which said the following, Facebook is for friends you went to college with and Twitter is for people with whom you wished you went to college with. A lot of people believe in the power of Twitter and create accounts but here intervene the rules of this network: everything is done within 140 characters. How to present yourself or how to make your products or services well-known in such a short space?

Creating the Surreal Photo Illustration ‘Checkmate’

For this tutorial I will be showing you how to take a few simple elements and turn them into something dark and surreal. We will be covering different masking and blending techniques along with light and coloring effects. We will also be playing with some of the basic Photoshop Filters in order to create a balanced image with plenty of depth. If you are ready to get started then fire up Photoshop and let’s get going!

Every week we’ll introduce you to an Envato staff member or team. This week we meet the Vectortuts+ team. This post is taken from the Vectortuts+ Team page on the site.

Sometimes, it’s easy to forget that actual human beings create the content here on Vectortuts+. We are in fact real people, and not just vector loving robots. In addition to numerous part time contributors, we have a team of talented and passionate artists creating all kinds of tutorials and content teaching illustration and design within the context of a vector workflow.

Are you into building websites? Nettuts+ is our tutorial site for you.

Nettuts+ is a site aimed at web developers and designers offering tutorials and articles on technologies, skills and techniques to improve how you design and build websites. We cover HTML, CSS, Javascript, CMS’s, PHP and Ruby on Rails.

Windmills have been around for centuries and although their construction evolved through time the idea remains the same. Let this tutorial be a tribute to those old fashioned windmills that are hardly met these days.

Step 1

Open Adobe Ilustrator and create a new file of any size you like, mine is 600 by 800px. Select the Pen Tool (P) and try to achieve a shape as you see below.

It can also be achieved by editing a rectangle but I found it much easier to just draw it. Next, create a copy of it by Alt-draging and reflect it.

Thursday Theory: The Importance of Perspective and Depth in Your Designs

Perspective and depth are important aspects of graphic design, yet are often overlooked within community discussion. This is perhaps because graphic design is regarded as an inherently 2D medium. Consequently discussions of perspective and depth are generally confined to cinematic and photographic circles. This is interesting as photography is often dependent on perspective and depth, yet is arguably as 2D a medium as graphic design.

Despite it’s understated reputation, perspective is a crucial part of accomplished graphic design. In my opinion the two main roles of perspective within graphic design are as follows:

Members Area Tutorial: Create a Print-Ready Business Card in Illustrator

Final Image

What was the first Envato site and how did it come to be? How do you find authors and convince them to sell on your marketplaces? Do you spend any free time with the other employees? What’s next for Envato? ActiveDen’s Lance Snider was interviewed for the March issue of Flash and Flex Developer’s Magazine, and these are some of the questions he answered.

33 Detailed Photoshop Tutorials For Working with Photos

Photography tutorials and photo manipulation tutorials are some of the most popular these days. Not only are photographers are interested in them, but also graphic/web designers and beginners. There are lots of layout or poster design tutorials nowdays, but it can be hard to find some truly detailed, professional standard photo-related tutorials. In this round-up we have collected a prominent collection of photo tutorials that are not just well-prepared but really fresh, so will hopefully teach you something new.